Wichita eagle., 1887-10-20
never play poker together again. =.

never play poker together again.
When they were ready to go they cut
the harness so that the stage would be
detained couple of hours, broke up or
carried off every flrearm, and drank to
our health from flask the tourist had
with him. They made off for the foot
hills to the east, having 50 little care for
Us that neither Of them once looked back.
was mad and no mistake, and the miner
gave utterance to his feelings in curses
which almost cracked the stones around
us. We had been robbed Of our every
dollar, and, with the money, our every
prospect. The tourist could get more at
Stockton, and the lieutenant was out only
q few dollars an way. l was not yet
dressed when he began to put on airs over
Us, claiming that II we had not been SO
hasty he would have managed the affair
to the defeat of the robbers. This added
to my anger and sailed in and pounded
him until he yelled for mercy.
1t was just sunset when the stage was
ready to go on, but there were two of US
who did not propose to 60 that way. We
were unarmed, but determined, anu while
the stage numbered Of down the rough
road we found a club apiece and set out
on the trail Of the robbers. Luckily for
US, the miner had been long In the coun-
try and seen q good deal Of the hunters
life. We therefore had no difficulty in
following the trail until darkness came
on. The fellows made directly for the
foothills, and we had no doubt that they
had some sort Of q cave or stronghold out
there. They took matters so coolly that
they could not have been a great WAYS
ahead Of us when darkness fell. Twas
then for resting until daylight, but the
miner urged that We should push on.
From the topography of the country he
felt certain that a ravine or rift would be
found not far away. We were then be-
tween the foothills and the true mountain
in q narrow valley. and the full moon had
come up. Without this light we could
not have made our way, as the ground
was much broken and powders lay
thickly scattered about.
We went ahead very cautiously up this
valley for about mile, and of a sudden
q rift opened to the left, and the glare of
. camp fire greeted our eyes 1t was not
over 200 feet away, and after a minute
we made out the forms Of the two men
as they seemed to be preparing supper.
We had found them, but what of it,
They had all the arms and We were de-
fense!ess, We crept back few yards to
hold q consultation, and the miner care
fully studied the lay of the land. He
was OF the opinion that il was snort,
dry rift, with . cave at the far end. The
two sides were inclosed by walls of earth
and rock, and our only way was 10 attack
the men from above. How high we
would have to climb, or what the difficult
ties, we could not say. We were not three
minutes deciding to make the attempt,
and we prepared for 10 by leaving coats,
vests, hats and boots behind We be-
gan the ascent about 100 feet back from
the mouth Of the rift, and do not believe
two panthers could have done better The
side Of the mountain was thickly covered
with cedars, vines, and rocks, and pro-
gress was made almost entirely by creep
ing. Once we drew ourselves up q cliff
full twenty feet high bya grapevine hang
ing down, and again we made use of
tree to seek higher elevation. We had
been going up for half an hour before we
bore of to the right in the direction of the
rift. We then had 10 move far more eau
tiously. and presume it was full hour
from the time we left the valley before we
Law on our stoinachs 100 feet above the
camp Gre and looked over. The men
were directly beneath Us, seated cloee to-
gether, and were smoking Is they counted
the money.
v. AAi hut one vav = attack Luckily